Conference report makes the following changes to the 3rd edition.

Adds new Section 5.1-5.3, discussed below.

Section 5.1

Requires the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), pursuant to the powers relative to general permits and to permits for facilities not discharging to the surface waters of the State that are granted to the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) and delegated by the Commission to the Department, to extend the expiration of the seven specified general permits along with the certificates of coverage issued under those permits until September 30, 2026.

Section 5.2

Amends Section 40.7(a) of SL 2021-180  (2021 appropriations act) to allow DEQ to enter into a memorandum of understanding with another State agency for the purposes of implementing Section 40.7 (directing stream debris removal funds be used for the removal and disposal of waterway debris from waters of the State located in a targeted river basin or other flood mitigation strategies throughout the State prioritized through the Flood Resiliency Blueprint developed in the act). Makes clarifying changes.

Amends Section 40.7(e)(2) of SL 2021-180 to include the French Broad River Basin in the targeted river basins.

Allows DEQ to contract with one or more third parties for development and implementation of the Flood Resiliency Blueprint, and exempts it from Articles 3 and 3C of GS Chapter 143 with respect to those contracts.

Section 5.3

Amends GS 106-701 (right to farm defense in nuisance actions) by adding Type I compost facilities for the production of compost for commercial purposes to those meeting the definition of agricultural operation. 

Section 15

Amends GS 105-130.34 (credit for certain real property donations as follows). Sets the aggregate amount of credit allowed to a corporation for one or more qualified donations (made directly or indirectly) at $500,000. Specifies that the credit may not be taken for the year in which the donation is made but may be taken for the taxable year beginning during the calendar year in which the application for the credit becomes effective. Clarifies that a qualified donation must meet all of the listed conditions in GS 105-130.34(a1). Provides for an application for the credits provided with a filing deadline of April 15 of the following the calendar year when the donation was made. Provides for a form prepared by the Secretary. Requires the applicant provide a copy of the certificate by the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources identifying which of the valid public benefits the donation was suitable for.  Amends the self-contained appraisal report so that for fee simple donations of real property the corporation (was, taxpayer) may submit documentation of the county's appraised value of the donated property, as adjusted by the sales assessment ratio, in lieu of an appraisal report. (Prior version did not provide for sales adjustment ratio or for in lieu of appraisal report.) Requires donating corporations to maintain and make available for the Secretary any records the Secretary considers necessary to substantiate the amount of credit that the corporation is entitled to. Makes organizational, technical, and conforming changes.

Requires the Secretary of Revenue (Secretary) to calculate the total amount of credits claimed from applications. If the total amount of credits claimed for donations made in a calendar year exceeds this maximum amount, the Secretary will allow a portion of the credits claimed by allocating the maximum amount in credits in proportion to the size of the credit claimed by each taxpayer. Provides for notice of reduction of credit to taxpayer. Specifies that the Secretary’s allocations based on applications filed are final and shall not be adjusted to account for credits applied for but not claimed.

Provides for a total aggregate amount of all credits allowed to taxpayers under this section and GS 105-153.11 (credit for certain real property donations) for donations made in a taxable year to not exceed $5 million of which $3.25 million is reserved for credits to taxpayers that have made a qualified donation of real property for forestland or farmland conservation. If funds reserved for credits for qualified donations of real property for forestland or farmland conservation remain after disposition of all timely filed applications for that type of credit, requires the Secretary to allocate any funds remaining to credits for other types of qualified donations. Sets priority for those credits.  Provides for reopening of application period if the Secretary allows with deadline of October 15. The Secretary's determinations based on additional applications timely filed are final.

Amends GS 105-153.11 (credit for certain real property donations) as follows. Specifies that the credit may not be taken for the year in which the donation is made but may be taken for the taxable year beginning during the calendar year in which the application for the credit becomes effective. Clarifies that a qualified donation must meet all of the listed conditions in GS 105-153.11(a1). Provides for an application for the credits provided with a filing deadline of April 15 of the following the calendar year when the donation was made. Provides for a form prepared by the Secretary. Requires the applicant provide a copy of the certificate by the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources identifying which of the valid public benefits the donation was suitable for. Specified that a taxed pass-through entity (defined) that engages in an activity that makes it eligible for a credit under this section as an entity may not take the credit at the entity level but must pass through to each of its owners the owner's distributive share of the credit for which the taxed pass-through entity qualifies. Specifies that maximum dollar limits and other limitations that apply in determining the amount of credit available to an owner of a pass-through entity apply to the same extent in determining the amount of a credit for which the taxed pass-through entity qualifies. Requires the Secretary to calculate the total amount of credits claimed from applications. If the total amount of credits claimed for donations made in a calendar year exceeds this maximum amount, the Secretary will allow a portion of the credits claimed by allocating the maximum amount in credits in proportion to the size of the credit claimed by each individual or pass-through entity. Provides for notice of reduction of credit to individual/pass-through entities. Specifies that the Secretary’s allocations based on applications filed are final and shall not be adjusted to account for credits applied for but not claimed. Requires an individual or pass-through entity to maintain and make available for the Secretary any records the Secretary considers necessary to substantiate the amount of credit that the corporation is entitled to.  Makes organizational, technical, and conforming changes. Requires the Department of Revenue to include the following four prongs of information in the economic incentives report: (1) number of individuals and pass-through entities that took the credit allowed; (2) total amount of credits claimed for conservation purposes; (3) total amount of credits carried forward; and (4) total cost to the General Fund of the credits taken.

Amends the effective date so it also applies to donations made on or after January 1, 2025, and expires for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, for donations made on or after January 1, 2027.

Conference report to the 2nd edition makes the following changes.

Adds the following new content and makes conforming changes to the act’s titles.

Amends GS 135-48.54, which requires a charter school’s board of directions to elect whether to become a participating employer in the State Health Plan (Plan), no later than two years after signing the written charter. Amends this provision to now set out different procedures under which the school may elect to participate in the Plan, depending on whether the election is made no later than two years from the signing of the written charter or at a time after two years from the date of the signing of the written charter. Provides that when the election is made no later than two years from the signing, then the charter school becomes a participating employing unit. Sets out a process under which the board of directors of the school gives written notice of the election and the resulting status of the school as a participating unit to the Plan, Charter Schools Review Board, and State Board of Education. For those elections made after two years from the signing, requires the school’s board of directors to file an application with the Plan’s Board of Trustees for participation in the Plan; sets out the conditions and procedure for application approval. Makes technical, clarifying, and conforming changes. Makes conforming changes to GS 135-1. Effective 30 days after the act becomes law.

Provides that if S319 (Insurance Rev/Online Auctions/Firefighters) becomes law, then the following changes are made, effective January 1, 2025. Amends GS 58-86-45 to increase the amount of the lump sum payments by firefighters or rescue squad workers for retroactive membership in the North Carolina Firefighters' and Rescue Squad Workers' Pension Fund from $10 to $15 per month. Makes technical changes. Amends GS 58-86-55 to provide that a retired firefighter receiving a pension will receive $175 per month, effective January 1, 2025 (was, July 1, 2024).

Also makes the following changes if S 319 becomes law. Specifies that Sections 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 (as amended) of that act, and Section 3(a) of this act apply: (1) to membership contributions due to the North Carolina Firefighters' and Rescue Squad Workers' Pension Fund (Pension Fund) on or after January 1, 2025 and that any membership contribution payments made to the Fund on or before March 31, 2025, for service in the 2024 calendar year shall will be in the amount of $10/month of service; (2) to pension benefit amounts payable from the Pension Fund due to a member or beneficiary on or after January 1, 2025; specifies that if a member or beneficiary becomes eligible to receive a pension benefit from the Pension Fund on or before December 31, 2024, but the pension benefit amount is paid from the Pension Fund on or after January 1, 2025, then the pension amount benefit due to the member or beneficiary shall be the amount applicable to the pension benefit amount that was effective for each respective month to which the benefit applies. Makes Section 11.1 through 11.3 of the act effective January 1, 2025, instead of July 1, 2024.

Amends GS 115C-218.90 to allow a charter school to require as a condition of a contract with an education management organization or charter management organization to employ and provide teachers, that paid parental leave be provided to those teachers. Makes conforming changes. Applies beginning with the 2024-25 school year.

Amends GS 143-128.4 by amending the definition of historically underutilized business to include an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) company in which at least 51% of the plan participants (was, stock is owned by one or more persons who) are members of at least one of the specified groups. Adds that an ESOP company applying for certification as a historically underutilized business must provide an attestation that it meets the requirements along with documentation supporting the attestation. Effective July 1, 2024.

House committee substitute replaces the 2nd edition in its entirety with the following. Changes the act's titles.

Section 1.1

Establishes the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) grant program. Contains 22 defined terms, including Broadband Serviceable Location (BSL: a location where broadband service is or could be installed, as identified by the Federal Communications Commission for purposes of its Broadband DATA Maps), NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the US Department of Commerce), and IIJA (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act).

Specifies if there’s any conflict between the act and the IIJA, the IIJA takes precedence. Requires the Department of Information Technology (Department) to report to the specified NCGA committee any actions to conform to federal law if an actual conflict arises. Prevents the Broadband Infrastructure Office in the Department of Information Technology (Office) from prescribing the rates of service which applicants may deliver, nor can the Office indirectly regulate the rates of service which applicants may deliver by affording any preference or differentiated scoring weight based on the specific rate of service which an applicant may deliver.

Establishes the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Fund (GREAT 3.0 Fund) as a special revenue fund in the Department for infrastructure costs associated with an eligible project. Specifies that if the Department has entered into grant agreements for deployment of service to all unserved and underserved locations in the State, it may use any remaining funds in the GREAT 3.0 Fund for digital literacy and awareness or other purposes consistent with nondeployment activities described in the BEAD notice of funding opportunity.  

Requires the Office to prioritize projects proposed to address the following in order: (1) unserved BSL’s; (2) underserved BSL’s and (3) community anchor institutions.  Provides for a process for project proposals. Provides for a formal challenge process developed by the Office. Requires Office to develop a prequalification process to identify potential grantees with the financial, managerial, operational, and technical capacity to complete an eligible project. Sets forth ten required pieces of information that an applicant must include in a grant application to the Office. Provides for a competitive selection process with a scoring system that conforms with the published regulations and guidelines under the IIJA. Provides for priority to applications with the most number of new unserved and underserved areas in case of a tie based on points. Provides for an award agreement with the Office. Requires the Office to monitor each project to ensure: (1) that the grantee is making adequate progress towards project completion by the required deadline; (2) compliance with all relevant and applicable  federal, State, and local laws, rules, and regulations, and (3) compliance with all NTIA  guidelines for the BEAD Program and any guidelines developed by the Office. Requires the Office to require a letter of credit or an alternative form of satisfactory performance security, such as a performance bond, from the grantee to secure the grantee's performance of its obligations under the grant contract consistent with the federal requirements. Requires the Department to submit an annual report to the specified NCGA committees upon completion of each funding round containing at least six listed prongs of information, including the number of grant applied for and awarded, a summary of areas receiving the grants, any breach of agreements or grant fund forfeitures or reductions in funding. After two rounds of selection requires the Department to submit a progress report to the specified NCGA committee and the Fiscal Research Division containing four required pieces of information, including the remaining number of unserved and underserved areas of the State, remaining funds in the GREAT 3.0 program, and the estimated amount of funding needed to award projects serving the remaining unfunded and underfunded areas of the State.  Allows the Department to retain up to two percent of allocated BEAD grant funds for planning and administrative purposes.

Removes the December 31, 2024, expiration date to the changes made in Sections 38.10(b) through (k) of SL 2021-180 (2021 appropriations act).

Requires the State Controller to establish a BEAD Reserve (Reserve) in the General Fund to maintain federal funds received from the IIJ. Directs the State Controller to transfer funds  into the GREAT 3.0 program  fund only as needed to meet the appropriations set out in subsequent legislation. Specifies that funds reserved in the Reserve do not constitute an "appropriation made by law," as that phrase is used in Section 7(1) of Article V of the North Carolina Constitution.

Section 2.1

Specifies that of the funds appropriated to the Department from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund for projects under the Completing Access to Broadband grant program (Program) in GS 143B-1373.1, the Department must utilize up to $190 million to provide the county project cost responsibility required in GS 143B-1373.1(e) and the State project cost responsibility for the 37 counties that have committed to the Department to participate in the Program and provide the county match as of May 1, 2024. Allows a county to decline to accept any portion of the county project cost responsibility funding from the Department by notifying the Department within 30 days of the effective date of the act (July 1, 2024).

Amends GS 143B-1373.1 as follows. Changes the amount that a broadband service provider must (was, may) provide for a project from up to 30% of the project to at least 30% of the project. Increases the Office’s required (was discretionary) contribution amount of up to 70% of the project (was, 35%). Removes language requiring a county to provide a certain amount from funds received from the American Rescue Plan Act. Makes technical and conforming changes. Effective July 1, 2024, and applies to grant funding requests submitted on or after that date.

Section 3.1

Effective June 30, 2024, specifies that the directed grant in the sum of $35 million in in nonrecurring funds for the 2022-2023 fiscal year to be provided by the Office of State Budget and Management – Special Appropriations to Dare County to construct affordable housing will not be used for that purpose but will instead revert to the Housing Trust Fund on June 30, 2024.

Section 4.1

Sets forth general effective date of July 1, 2024 for the act, unless otherwise provided.